Journal of Development Policy Research and Practice (JoDPRP)

Message from the Editors: Ten Years of the JoDPRP

With the publication of its tenth volume, the Journal of Development Policy, Research & Practice enters its second decade with a strengthened commitment to quality, accessibility, and global scholarly engagement. Since the publication of its first issue in 2017, the journal has published 57 papers across nine annual volumes. This milestone provides an opportunity to reflect on one of the most significant transformations in the journal’s first decade: its transition from a predominantly print-based publication to a fully digital scholarly platform, enabling the research it publishes to reach, inform, and engage a much wider audience.

For much of its early history, the journal operated primarily in print. Records of manuscripts, from submission and peer review to editorial decisions, were maintained in hard copy and submitted in that form to the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan. While this system provided a dependable record of the editorial process, it limited the journal’s visibility and accessibility within the wider scholarly community. Three years ago, the journal moved its entire editorial workflow to the Open Journal Systems platform. Today, submissions, peer reviews, editorial decisions, and publication records are managed and archived digitally, making the process more transparent for authors, more convenient for reviewers, and easier to monitor and audit.

Every aspect of this digital transformation has been guided by a commitment to improving the discoverability, credibility, and long-term accessibility of the journal. Each published article now carries a DOI through the journal’s Crossref membership, providing a permanent and citable digital identifier. ORCID integration connects authors and their research to their scholarly profiles, while Reviewer Credits provides formal recognition for the valuable contributions of reviewers. Through LOCKSS, published content is preserved for the long term, and the online platform has strengthened the discoverability of articles through Google Scholar and other indexing and discovery services. The journal has also introduced a policy on the use of Artificial Intelligence to provide clear guidance to authors and reviewers in an evolving research and publishing environment.

The impact of this transformation is reflected in the journal’s growing reach. Monthly abstract readership has roughly tripled over the past two years, with readers accessing the journal from the United States, China, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and many other countries. Annual citations have increased from 6 in 2021 to 37 in 2025. Greater visibility has also expanded the journal’s author community. Since transitioning online, the journal has received 289 submissions, with the annual submission rate increasing from an average of approximately 82 submissions to more than 100 in the most recent period.

Digitalisation has also enabled the journal to build a broader and more diverse scholarly community. The reviewer pool has expanded to 255 scholars across 35 countries, with each manuscript continuing to undergo double-blind peer review by one national and one international expert. Authors from ten countries have published in the journal, and nearly one-third of recent papers include international authorship. Throughout this growth, the journal has remained committed to its open-access model, with no fees charged to either authors or readers.

The journal’s purpose, however, remains unchanged: to publish rigorous, policy-relevant research that contributes to understanding and addressing the challenges of sustainable development. It continues to welcome research across areas including economic growth and governance, climate and energy, education, peace, and gender equity. Through this broad scope, the journal seeks to provide a platform for research that advances knowledge, informs policy, and contributes to sustainable and inclusive development.

These achievements would not have been possible without the commitment of the journal’s authors, reviewers, editorial board, and editorial team at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI). Sincere appreciation is extended to all those who have contributed to the journal’s development and continued progress.

As the Journal of Development Policy, Research & Practice enters its second decade, the journal remains committed to strengthening the quality, relevance, accessibility, and international reach of the research it publishes. Scholars, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners from around the world are invited to read, cite, engage with, and contribute to the journal as it continues its journey toward a more open, connected, and impactful scholarly community.

On behalf of the Editors

Journal of Development Policy, Research & Practice